August 19, 2003
the 'wow' factor in architecture
Instead of boring sustainablity for Adelaide our cosmopolitan dynamic free marketeers with a penchant for aesthetics reckon spectacle is the way to go:
Frank O. Gehry, proposed new Guggenheim on the lower east side of Manhattan.
It's bold. Its exuberant. It's dazzling. Its wow. it advertises itself. It's excess. Its dominating. Its world beating.
To hell with sustainability.
Gehry has the 'wow' signature:
Guggenheim. Bilbao, Spain
What can I say? It's sooooo 1990s.
Link courtesy of David at City Comforts.
This is the kind of architecture that the City of Geelong in Victoria lusted after. It too angled for a Guggenheim. It was a way to kick start regional development after deindustrialization of the 1980s. It was to be architecturally significant, and a huge money-spinner as it would be a tourist attraction in its own right.
In Adelaide there is strong public support and interest in shaping environmental policy through a redesign of built environmentand the quality of built form.